Page 94 of Ashley & the A-Listers

“As long as that someone isn’t me, you can do whatever you want,” River said. He was reclined on his palms, face tilted up to the sun.

In nothing but a pair of swim shorts and sprinkled with the light breaking through the trees, he looked like a painting.

A painting she wanted to lick.

That didn’t make sense.

She didn’t care.

Dylan cleared his throat and Ashley’s gaze trailed back to him. He arched a brow at her and her cheeksflamedat being caught checking out the beta.

After kissing said alpha.

After applying a very secure layer of sunscreen to the other two.

Playing it so, so cool, she shrugged, as if it wasn’t a big deal. She could appreciate a handsome guy moments after she’d kissed her childhood crush, even if that guy happened to be dating her client.

Was Ashley… messy?

She heard the word in Kenzie’s voice and almost laughed aloud at her own thoughts.

As Dylan got to his feet, Ashley wondered if they would ever get to a point where theyweren’tmessy. How did they even get there?

Talking.

“Want help?” she asked Dylan, who shrugged.

“You’re the birthday girl—“ he began in denial, but caught her look, and stuttered. “Uhhh, but you can help if you want.”

Ashley rolled her eyes, tucking a smile into her cheek and getting to her feet. With careful steps she made her way out of the pool on the slippery rocks and joined Dylan by all their bags several feet away. Her sandals squeaked the whole way.

“You’re not allowed to actually help,” Dylan said as soon as she reached for a bag.

“What? Why?”

“It’s your birthday, so it’s against the rules. But it felt like you wanted a moment.”

Ashley crossed her arms, staring down at the alpha kneeling on the ground and rummaging through a giant backpack.

Had he really toted that thing the whole hike? She hadn’t realized how large it was.

“Well—I guess—I don’t know,” she began eloquently.

Ashley squatted down so she could be eye-level with Dylan. “We kissed,” she said.

He paused with one hand in the bag and lifted his head. His coffee-brown eyes were dark and soft and Ashley felt her breath like a punch to the chest.

“We kissed,” he repeated, and the air went out of her.

“You’re not going to run this time?” she breathed, barely able to put volume behind the words for her fear.

Dylan pulled his hands out of the bag, and they hovered in the air between them as if he wanted to put a hand on her, but he hesitated at the last second.

She kind of hated how respectful he was being, keeping himself at a distance.

Because… because in that moment, Ashley had a horrifying realization.

She wanted things to go back to normal. No matter what Dylan had done.

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